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Kristen Stewart Says She Was a “Pretentious Little Loser” Making Twilight, Always Trying to Make It “So So Serious.”

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Kristen Stewart is looking back on the franchise that made her a star — and she’s not pulling any punches about the version of herself who made it.

Taylor Lautner, Kristen Stewart, and Robert Pattinson standing together in front of a San Diego Comic-Con step-and-repeat backdrop in 2009.
Taylor Lautner, Kristen Stewart, and Robert Pattinson pose together at the ‘Twilight Saga: New Moon’ panel during Comic-Con 2009 in San Diego. Photo by Michael Buckner / Getty Images.

Speaking on the August 14 episode of the podcast In Your Dreams With Owen Thiele, the actress reflected on Twilight almost 18 years after the first film, describing a teenage performer who took the vampire romance far too seriously.

She and Robert Pattinson approached the movies like they needed rescuing. “Me and Rob were like, ‘Yeah, this is like f–king [everything]. Let’s try and elevate this s–t,'” she recalled. “And it’s like, just be exactly what age you are and say the words.”

Robert Pattinson and Kristen Stewart at the Twilight Breaking Dawn Part 1 UK premiere in London
Robert Pattinson and Kristen Stewart together at the Breaking Dawn Part 1 UK premiere held at Westfield Stratford City in London, November 2011. Photo by Ian Gavan / Getty Images.

At the time, she said, being asked to view the movies “from the outside” simply wasn’t possible yet. Five movies over five years, and the conversation never stopped.

Now 36, Stewart reads that teenage intensity differently. “God, I just wanted to be like f–king real. And it’s impossible. Everyone’s making it f–king impossible for it to be like f–king real,” she said of how she felt back then.

Robert Pattinson and Kristen Stewart at the Twilight premiere during the Rome International Film Festival in 2008
At Rome’s Auditorium Parco della Musica on October 30, 2008, the *Twilight* premiere during the 3rd Rome International Film Festival drew Robert Pattinson and Kristen Stewart to the carpet. Photo by Franco Origlia / Getty Images.

Distance, though, changed the verdict. What they were doing “was f–king real,” she said — and also “kind of campy and sick.” As she put it, the excess was the point: “Anything too much is so perfect for that period of time, where you’re not going to do subtle stuff when you’re, like, a teenager dying.”

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About the author

January Nelson

January Nelson

January Nelson is a writer, editor, and dreamer. She writes about astrology, games, love, relationships, and entertainment. January graduated with an English and Literature degree from Columbia University.